In the last 15 years, the per capita consumption of Italian style cheese has increased approximately tenfold. While there has been a significant increase in the consumption of traditional Italian style cheeses, such as romano, parmesan and ricotta, by far the most dramatic increase, in United States consumption of Italian style cheese has been in connection with mozzarella. This has been due to the unusually rapid popularization of pizza in the United States. Mozzarella cheese is, by far, the most dominant cheese used in producing pizza, with provolone cheese constituting the next most significant pizza cheese.
The amount of other cheeses used in the production of pizza has been relatively insignificant compared with the amount of mozzarella cheese because of the unique stringy characteristic of heat plasticized mozzarella cheese. Other types of cheese cannot produce this same stringy effect, and the consuming public will not, generally, accept a cheese pizza which does not exhibit the characteristic of stringiness. Additionally, the mozzarella cheese has a distinctive and relatively clear taste which cannot be duplicated by other cheeses. Just as important, the clear taste does not override the taste of spices and other flavors used in pizza preparation, as is the case in other cheeses which have stronger and more lingering flavors. For example, while cheddar cheese or provolone cheese can produce some stringiness in a heated pizza, the flavors of these cheeses so override the flavors of the pizza spices that the consuming public does not, generally, accept these cheeses as substitutes for mozzarella cheese.
The substantial increase in demand for mozzarella cheese has not only caused difficulties in obtaining predictable supplies thereof, but has significantly increased the cost of the mozzarella cheese. In view thereof, the art has sought means for supplementing or extending (or indeed replacing) the mozzarella cheese used in pizza production wherein the desired characteristics of the mozzarella cheese, as discussed above, are preserved. However, these efforts have met with only partial success. Such supplements or extenders have not been able to accurately reproduce the stringy characteristic of mozarella cheese and/or they have undesired flavors. Additionally, since the relatively bland and clear flavor of mozzarella cheese has not been accurately reproduced, the supplements or extenders often either mask the pizza spice flavors or overwhelm the mozzarella cheese flavor.
For the foregoing reasons, prior available supplements of extenders for mozzarella cheese have not enjoyed substantial commercial success and have not been generally acceptable to the consuming public. It would, therefore, be most advantageous to produce a supplement or extender for mozzarella cheese which preserves the appearance, texture and character of the mozzarella cheese but does not adversely affect the flavor of a pizza produced therefrom.